- Australia finish day two at 237-6, 48 runs ahead of India’s first innings
- Matt Renshaw (60) and Shaun Marsh (66) the stars for tourists
So Australia’s day, though perhaps not by a huge margin, and a victory for those who love struggling, attritional Test cricket. India fought hard, didn’t let the scoring get out of control, but couldn’t snap up wickets quickly enough.
The visiting side came into today with 40 on the board and no wickets down. Warner and Renshaw pushed on to another 50 opening stand before the more dashing of the pair was dismissed for 33, bowler by an Ashwin pearler. Smith played a long innings for not many, gone just before lunch, then Renshaw and Shaun Marsh dug in for another 50 stand.
106th over: Australia 237-6 (Wade 25, Starc 14)
Starc to face the last over. Ashwin bowling. And Starc enjoys pretending to be a top-order batsman, kicking balls away outside leg, leaving them outside off. For all his tricks, Ashwin can’t find a way through, and the day ends with a solid defensive push of the bat, something which sums up India’s inability to get past Australia today. Six wickets, yes, but the visiting team with the chance to add to a lead that while currently modest, could still be crucial on this pitch.
105th over: Australia 237-6 (Wade 25, Starc 14)
Second-last over. India can’t wait for this to be done. Umesh to bowl it. Wade gets a run with a glide, Starc goes to a similar area via the edge. Breezily 14 from 13 balls after everyone else today struggled to get close to a strike rate of 50.
104th over: Australia 235-6 (Wade 24, Starc 13)
The specialist back on for the part-timer, Ashwin with the ball. Wade defends five balls, negotiates five safely, then the last one kicks up at him and he gloves it solidly away. Punches it, in fact. And it flies just wide of Rahane in at short mid-off. The batsmen pinch a run.
103rd over: Australia 234-6 (Wade 23, Starc 13)
This is the damage Starc can do when he comes out late. Gets a short ball fomr Yadav, pulls it four four. Then drives a couple of runs over cover. Smack, smack. The lead out to 45.
102nd over: Australia 228-6 (Wade 23, Starc 7)
Karun Nair on for a trundle, as the lead bowlers are cooked, and given India left out the extra bowler in Jayant Yadav, they’re short of options. He bowls trash, some very wide stuff, but the boundary scored from him is trash too, Starc under-edging past the keeper.
101st over: Australia 221-6 (Wade 22, Starc 1)
And a drop! Umesh nearly had two, as Starc nicks his third ball wide of the keeper, and Saha gets the flap of the glove to it as he dives across.
He finally goes! Renshaw fell on 196 balls, Marsh goes from his 197th. He’s surely exhausted, but so must Umesh Yadav be, and finally the fast bowler gets some reward. Standard straight ball, Marsh flicks across the line and chips it straight to midwicket for a comfortable, Pietersen-versus-Siddle catch.
100th over: Australia 220-5 (S Marsh 66, Wade 22)
More ticking over, five singles from Jadeja.
99th over: Australia 215-5 (S Marsh 63, Wade 20)
Wade jams Umesh Yadav away for a single, Marsh glides another, and there’s a fifty partnership for this pair. Both subject to plenty of criticism, and this performance means a lot. The last wicket fell at 163. Both lefties find another single thanks to glides behind point. Ticking over a bit more now after some very slow and patient stuff.
Reverse view. What a ground. #INDvAUSpic.twitter.com/fSirrb5Xm5
98th over: Australia 211-5 (S Marsh 61, Wade 18)
Jadeja back on for his 16th. Marsh plays a single off his pads without fuss. 60 on the board, there’s the distant spectre of what would be a career-defining hundred here. Wade tries to sweep, top edges that ball away for another streaky four! Well, he’s getting the results, I guess? Execution another story.
97th over: Australia 205-5 (S Marsh 60, Wade 13)
Shaun Marsh soaking up the vast bulk of the strike here. Leaves a couple of Ishant balls, then is hit in the ribs as he shapes for a pull but can’t time it. There’s yet another lbw appeal, Ishant over the wicket, but that was angling too far across the left-hander and would have been easily missing off stump.
96th over: Australia 204-5 (S Marsh 60, Wade 13)
Marsh edges Ashwin this over, not controlled, but has the presence of mind and the positivity to rush back for a second run even this late in the day, and dive into his ground. That’s commitment. Flicks a single next ball.
95th over: Australia 201-5 (S Marsh 57, Wade 13)
Shaun Marsh is a study in discipline today. He played well in Colombo, but I’d gauge this innings as happening in more testing conditions. He leaves the ball with precision through three Ishant deliveries, then when a short ball surprises him he keeps it down for a single.
94th over: Australia 200-5 (S Marsh 56, Wade 13)
Ashwin, getting loose as he tires, fires four byes down the leg side. The day grows late. And then comes the clincher. Another shocking review. Padded away by Wade. Ashwin thinks it caught some glove as it turned across the left-hander. The replay shows the ball hitting pad-flap, then leaping well over the gloves into Wade’s shoulder. Nowhere near. India, both reviews gone, and still five wickets to get. The 200 comes up with a Marsh single.
The evidence is back, and once again, Wade ain't gloved shit. #INDvAUS
93rd over: Australia 194-5 (S Marsh 55, Wade 12)
Edging up to drinks, and just a couple more runs from Ishant’s 21st over as Marsh plays a stylish cut shot away behind point. Once again looking in supreme control when he scores. And the patience - closing on 200 balls - has been exemplary.
92nd over: Australia 192-5 (S Marsh 53, Wade 12)
Ashwin going back to the approach that got him Warner’s wicket, with two lefties at the crease. Off spin, over the wicket, pitching outside leg and turning across. Marsh is using his feet with confidence now, though. Three singles from the over, several kicked away, Australia now in front.
91st over: Australia 189-5 (S Marsh 51, Wade 11)
Yadav has been so impressive. Still running in, belting the ball down, good pace, discipline outside the off stump. He beats Wade thoroughly from the third ball of the over, but it doesn’t take the edge. Wade jams a single thereafter, and Marsh levels the scores with a drive through cover. Australia still with five wickets in hand, but only the tail to come. This partnership is now worth 26 and growing in importance.
90th over: Australia 187-5 (S Marsh 50, Wade 10)
A casual bat-wave as Marsh drives Ashwin square for one. He’s been good. Plenty of luck with those close lbws, but he’s held his composure, and his actual run-scoring has looked quite comfortable, even if his defence has been tested plenty on a difficult pitch. Very important innings given the currently low team score. Wade sweeps another single.
89th over: Australia 185-5 (S Marsh 49, Wade 9)
Edged! Marsh is teasing the Indian bowling side now, as Australia grinds on towards India’s first innings score. Thick edge into the ground, and Kohli at slip slaps it away falling to his left. Marsh gets off strike next ball with a flick, and Wade blocks out the rest of the over.
88th over: Australia 184-5 (S Marsh 48, Wade 9)
It wasn’t under dispute, but India are the worst reviewing side imaginable. We’ve just passed the 80-over reset mark, there’s yet another appeal against Marsh, and they review even though Marsh smashed that Ashwin delivery about six inches laterally off the inside edge into his pad. Marsh is settling now, gets a single via a steady on-drive, another through cover, while Wade uses the main weapon he has chosen for this trip and gets his run via a sweep.
87th over: Australia 181-5 (S Marsh 46, Wade 8)
This pitch is becoming a minefield. A lead of 50 could be significant in the circumstances. This one from Umesh Yadav keeps very low, but somehow Marsh survives again as it misses his stumps. Only a isngle from the voer, cut from the last ball.
86th over: Australia 180-5 (S Marsh 45, Wade 8)
Another lbw reprieve for Marsh! And another tough moment for Sharma, this time his own fault because he has overstepped. Marsh looked pretty well done frmo that ball, it moved in towards him from around the wicket and hit him in front. but the heel was over the line at the bowler’s end. The batsmen scramble an extra run to make the tally two no-balls. And they collect three singles from the over, the lead is almost gone for India.
85th over: Australia 175-5 (S Marsh 44, Wade 6)
Double seam attack. What even is this? They haven’t taken the new ball yet either, in the 85th. Umesh Yadav, who was so good in the first Test. Draws a few leaves, then another good ball! Marsh given out lbw but reviews. Umesh around the wicket, angles a fast ball in, hits the front pad as Marsh tried to come across the line of the ball. Given by Umpire Illingworth, but the on-spec review strikes gold: the ball is found to be marginally striking the batsman outside the line of off, even though it was hitting half halfway up middle stump according to ball-tracking. I think those laws are garbage and that ball should be out. This ‘outside the line’ business is a hangover from the days of amateur and professionals. Who’s with me?
84th over: Australia 175-5 (S Marsh 44, Wade 6)
Edged this time, and four streaky runs for Wade. He’s a left-hander, and the tall right-armer Ishant is working him over form around the wicket. That ball moved away from this now crumbling pitch. It’s deteriorated even over the course of the day, from my vantage point. Edged just past Saha on the bounce. Then again! After leaving a couple, the next leaps at Wade, jabs into the outside edge, as he yanks his hand off the bat and the ball skews away on the bounce to slip. Gets him a single. Marsh serenely stuns the last ball into cover to take back the strike.
83rd over: Australia 169-5 (S Marsh 43, Wade 1)
Four! Not without risk. Marsh comes down the wicket and lofts Jadeja, but it only just carries the long-on, who is two third of the way back to the rope. That’s the first ball of the over, and Marsh goes defensive thereafter.
82nd over: Australia 165-5 (S Marsh 39, Wade 1)
Ishant Sharma has been good today. Very frugal, accurate. 25 runs from 17 overs. Make that 18. A maiden to Wade, working him around that off stump. Some blocks and leaves.
81st over: Australia 165-5 (S Marsh 39, Wade 1)
Jadeja to start up. A casual single for Senior Marsh to mid on. Matthew Wade comes on strike. Unloved, criticised, maligned. The urban ibis of Australian cricket, as per the cricket commentary I was listening to earlier. He does what the junior Marsh couldn’t, and gets off the mark. A swept single. Get ready for some one-sentence Jadeja overs.
Just by the way. This is some keraaaaazy stattology. Meg Lanning has just won a series decider against New Zealand with an unbeaten century, sure, that’s good. But think about this. She’s set the world record for most ODI hundreds in the women’s game - given women’s cricket has struggled to get huge numbers of games, that mark is 10. She’s the first into double figures. But what makes it really remarkable is the speed. Lanning has made her 10 hundreds in 57 games, but she too the record from England’s Charlotte Edwards, who made nine in 191 games. Think about it: 191 versus 57. Not far off a quarter as many matches. And an absurd rate on its own.
Related: Meg Lanning guides Australia to Rose Bowl series win over New Zealand
Goooooood gracious. Wickets from the last ball of sessions. Aren’t they great? I don’t mean those hokey fake ones where it falls from the fourth ball of the over and then they call a break. I mean the genuine last ball, x.5 overs down, one last opportunity for the bowler. And then. “Got him! The last ball of the day, can you believe that?” Those Bill Lawry words are burned in the memory, courtesy of whoever cut together that opening segment that ran on the TV for so many years. Ishant Sharma. Well.
Hello! Geoff here. Thanks Russell. Let’s play cricketball.
Well, that wasn’t ideal for Australia
But Ishant deserved that wicket, and replays reveal that Donald George Bradman himself probably wouldn’t have got bat on it. That’s it for me. Taking you through the rest of the day’s play is Geoffrey Lemon, who will be with you shortly.
WICKET! Mitch Marsh LBW Ishant Sharma 0 (Australia 163-5)
80th over: Australia 163-5 ( S Marsh 38)
79th over: Australia 162-4 ( S Marsh 37, M Marsh 0)
Nervy times for Mitch Marsh, who is now nine deliveries into his innings but yet to move off his duck. Let’s be honest: all of Australia is watching this. Poor bloke. Hopefully he gets some runs today for the sake of national harmony.
78th over: Australia 161-4 ( S Marsh 36, M Marsh 0)
I believe this is only the second time the Marsh brothers have batted together in Tests, so get all of your jokes in while it’s still possible. Are they the most unpopular Australian siblings since Shane and Bindi Paxton? Probably.
77th over: Australia 160-4 ( S Marsh 35, M Marsh 0)
A wicket-maiden for Jadeja, and we’ll have Marsh brothers batting at either end now. Gird up your loins, Australia.
Ashwin juggles a beauty! And Jadeja gets Handscomb! That was a tough chance to the right of Ashwin at mid-wicket, but with a dive and a bit of juggling as he hits the deck, the big all-rounder hangs onto it. With that, yet another wicket has fallen with a major break not far away.
76th over: Australia 160-3 ( Marsh 35, Handscomb 16)
The Australians might wish tea wasn’t so close at the moment, because Ravis Ashwin is really tiring. He sends down a very fatigued long hop to start this over and Marsh latches onto it perfectly, whip-cracking his cut through the field to pick up four. Ashwin ends the over scratching his head and a little peeved. He’s put in a fair old shift so far.
75th over: Australia 156-3 ( Marsh 31, Handscomb 16)
Jadeja is racing through his overs, but Peter Handscomb is pretty clear with his plan, which is a much more attacking one than we saw in Pune. Again he skips down the track to get to the pitch of the ball and flicks the spinner over mid-wicket for a boundary. It’s a bright start for the Victorian.
74th over: Australia 152-3 ( Marsh 31, Handscomb 12)
Bang! Peter Handcomb gets down the track to Ashwin, so that he’s right to the pitch of the ball, and deposits it over cow for a boundary. The horse has bolted, but Kohli and Ashwin immediately post a man back there. With that and three singles, it’s a profitable over for the Australians.
73rd over: Australia 145-3 ( Marsh 30, Handscomb 6)
Now Jadeja fires in a flatter one to Marsh, and that brings the short leg into play. Pujara, standing there, is soon diving to his left for a catch, but can’t quite get there. Marsh responds to the pressure by nudging one towards mid on and sprinting through for a single. An underrated virtue of his, that.
Renshaw averaging 165.25 (balls per dismissal) and 59.15 runs.
Bats time and makes runs. Pretty good, eh.#INDvsAUS
72nd over: Australia 143-3 ( Marsh 29, Handscomb 5)
Ashwin is coming around the wicket to Marsh, and close-ups of his deliveries reveal he’s trying to bring it in off the seam to the left-hander. He’s more conventional to Handscomb; over the wicket and turning it sharply towards off stump.
71st over: Australia 139-3 ( Marsh 28, Handscomb 2)
Handscomb is away with a single through cover, a run Kohli attempts to cut off in 1970s style, throwing his boot at it. It doesn’t work. Like Renshaw, something you can say of Handscomb is that he doesn’t look remotely overawed in what is a quite testing environment for a rookie Test player.
70th over: Australia 136-3 ( Marsh 27, Handscomb 0)
Ashwin gets the ball to rise up off the pitch like a cobra now, and Marsh does very well not to pat it into the hands of the man at silly point. The next curls past the outside edge, before Marsh settles himself with a rock solid forward defence. The crowd are really getting involved now, too. A tricky patch for the Australians.
69th over: Australia 136-3 ( Marsh 27, Handscomb 0)
Jadeja has a good look at Handscomb here, and India mustn’t have seen a lot of him because they continue to become excited by his unconventional and slightly ungainly defensive technique. In truth he’s a very capable players of spin bowling. He’s watchful in this over, and yet to get off the mark.
68th over: Australia 135-3 ( Marsh 26, Handscomb 0)
All of a sudden Ravi Ashwin has a little more spring in his step, as he was having absolutely no luck piercing Renshaw’s defence. Now he’ll have a right-hander to bowl to as well, though Marsh takes strike in this over and offers a straight bat throughout. It’s been tough work today, but India are still right in the contest here. If they can restrict Australia to 250, or a little less, and then put on 180 themselves, this pitch is going to be a nightmare in the fourth innings.
67th over: Australia 134-3 ( Marsh 25, Handscomb 0)
Peter Handscomb is the new man at the crease for Australia, and he’ll have about 40 minutes to contend with the Indian spinners before we head off for the tea break.
Jadeja does the trick again! Two deliveries after he’d skipped down the track and belted the first six of the innings, Renshaw ventures down again but misreads it, and with some smart work behind the stumps by Saha he’s on his way. The Australian opener is absolutely livid with himself, and turfs his gloves as he reaches the boundary. He should also feel proud of himself his 60 from 193 deliveries was a helluva knock given the stakes.
66th over: Australia 128-2 (Renshaw 54, Marsh 24)
At the risk of harping on the same point, this commentary is utterly maddening, but you need to have it on to get the audio from the ground. Is that a Faustian pact? “You can’t stand still otherwise you go backwards,” Hayden says now. I wish someone would roll his chair backwards a few metres.
65th over: Australia 123-2 (Renshaw 52, Marsh 22)
As if inspired by the conversation here, the Australians now start pushing those aforementioned singles. There is one here by Marsh off Jadeja, who fields off his own bowling by sprinting to cover and sliding, but can’t cut it off. It was at least a stylish dive. “The situation calls for a lot of game awareness,” says Matthew Hayden, just throwing a whole heap of words out in front of TV viewers and asking them to put them in whichever order they wish.
64th over: Australia 121-2 (Renshaw 51, Marsh 21)
Harking back to the Gervase Green email, I actually don’t mind this approach at all. For one thing, it’s a quite disorienting novelty compared to Australia’s gung-ho batting displays of failed Indian campaigns. It’s sort of working, isn’t it? My glass is half full for now.
63rd over: Australia 120-2 (Renshaw 51, Marsh 20)
Jadeja does indeed return now to replace Umesh, but the Australians handle him easily enough in his first over back. picking up a single apiece. “Hate to be a curmudgeon,” writes Gervase Greene, “but I do reflect on all those maidens bowled to Smith (and therefore Renshaw) that might have had two runs an over, or even a single.”
62nd over: Australia 118-2 (Renshaw 50, Marsh 19)
Ashwin has a wide slip, a short leg, and a quite deep leg gully as he wheels away to Marsh, who can tell from that configuration what he’s likely to receive. Should Ashwin not come around the wicket for a bit? He does turn one a mile in this over, but Marsh bats it down into the ground as it fizzes across towards the off stump. He’s been a diligent, determined batsman so far today.
61st over: Australia 118-2 (Renshaw 50, Marsh 19)
Further diminishing returns for Umesh Yadav, who keeps it tight in this over but still doesn’t look like breaking through, and Marsh casually flicks one off his pads to pick up three. Time for some Ravindra Jadeja? Probably. With that, we’ll have drinks.
60th over: Australia 115-2 (Renshaw 50, Marsh 16)
Renshaw is now dancing down the track and belting Ashwin for a boundary to cow corner! Sensational stuff from the rookie opener. He’s been going at a snail’s pace today, as the situation demands, but with that blow and two through mid wicket, he brings up a determined half-century from 183 deliveries. For four hours he’s resisted the best India has been able to throw at him. Take a bow, young man. This knock puts Australia in a very healthy position halfway through day two.
59th over: Australia 109-2 (Renshaw 44, Marsh 16)
Umesh is not quite nailing this like he did earlier in the day bowling to Smith, so the session is just fading a little as Marsh establishes himself. Umesh strays onto Marsh’s pads and he clips a couple of runs wide of mid-wicket. India have gone 17 overs without a wicket now.
58th over: Australia 107-2 (Renshaw 44, Marsh 14)
OK, my eyes are even worse than I suspected. Scrap what I said about Marsh missing that edge (though it did, to be fair). It might in fact have brushed Marsh’s thumb soon after it missed the edge, replays now reveal. That was the sound the Indians thought they’d heard. Maiden for Ashwin.
57th over: Australia 107-2 (Renshaw 44, Marsh 14)
Wriddhiman Saha is having a very taxing day at the office here, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for him. The spinners are turning it prodigiously, which is hard enough to deal with, but with the ball keeping low when the quicks are operating, he’s getting them on the bounce or around his ankles. Meanwhile, India have only one review remaining, and wisely they chose not to use it when Umesh thinks Marsh has got an outside edge to Saha. He missed it by the width of Merv Hughes’ moustache.
56th over: Australia 106-2 (Renshaw 43, Marsh 14)
Just a single to Renshaw from the Ashwin over, and when the Australian pair meet for their mid-pitch conference there is suddenly an air of command about their partnership. It now totals 24 runs from 15 overs. That is nothing to be sneezed at on a very tough day for batting.
55th over: Australia 105-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 14)
Umesh Yadav is back to replace Ishant, and fresh limbs means he’s getting his bouncers up that little bit higher, and Marsh almost nicks an attempted hook through to Saha. Umesh gets a little overzealous to that end, and when his third consecutive bumper just sits up in Marsh’s hitting zone, the Western Australian swivels into a pull shot and expertly dispatches it to the ropes. Marsh might have played himself in here.
54th over: Australia 101-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 10)
A boundary! Holy smokes, that came out of nowhere. Ashwin loops a very loose one down the leg side, and Marsh gets down on one knee to smother his sweep out to the fence at fine leg. There are four byes soon after to bring up Australia’s hundred, though you could hardly blame keeper Saha in this instance. With a single Marsh makes it nine for the over, which is a run glut compared to what we’ve seen in the rest of this second session.
53rd over: Australia 92-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 5)
Ishant has two standard slips, a leg slip and a short leg for Marsh, and even though he knows what line of attack to expect, the Australian cops one in the armpit when he gets his bat out the way of a bouncer. Ouch. Much like his father, he refuses to acknowledge the blow in any way. Tough. “I want to go into the brain of Matthew Hayden,” says Brett Lee, speaking on behalf of no other person on earth.
52nd over: Australia 91-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 4)
Marsh continues to pad up to Ashwin, or else gets back and across with a confident backward defence. From the final delivery of the over he pushes a single to wide mid-off. Ashwin has looked the goods all day, but somehow the Australians continue to blunt his impact.
51st over: Australia 90-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 3)
Ishant continues to Renshaw and though he’s still got the short leg in place, he poses an Umesh-like threat more than anything. Sooner or later one is going to keep so low that one of these left-handers can’t jam down his bat in time. Kohli brings in a leg gully, but Renshaw plays out a maiden without too many troubles. He’s 42 from 163 deliveries now, the 20-year-old. He’s singlehandedly distorting all those nonsense stats about the attention spans of millennials.
50th over: Australia 90-2 (Renshaw 42, Marsh 3)
“They’re whittling it away,” is Matthew Hayden’s take on Australia’s last few overs, in which they haven’t scored a run. Eventually Renshaw gets one off Ashwin, but it’s hard yakka. Shaun Marsh is in all sorts of bother against Ashwin, and has to do three things to stop one delivery; he shapes to pad up, changes his mind and blocks it, then has to kick it away from the stumps when it nearly rolls back to bowl him.
49th over: Australia 89-2 (Renshaw 41, Marsh 3)
Poor Ishant could do with a little more assistance out of this pitch as he fires down short ones to Shaun Marsh. It’s like trying to get a hacky sack to bounce at the moment. He does eventually get some bounce, but it’s backbreaking work. With Marsh not entirely comfortable, a short leg comes into play, but Marsh stands firm. Third maiden on the bounce. India are tightening the screws.
48th over: Australia 89-2 (Renshaw 41, Marsh 3)
Ashwin keeps at Renshaw, and as the Queenslander passes 150 deliveries faced, it’s probably time to start admitting he’s not doing too badly against one of the world’s best spinners. It’s not pretty, and he’s barely scoring off him, but he’s also still out there. Maiden.
47th over: Australia 89-2 (Renshaw 41, Marsh 3)
Save for his first ball of the day, which was angled down the leg side and dispatched for a boundary, Ishant Sharma has been an outstanding contributor for his side today. He’s sliding them away from Shaun Marsh to start the second session, and looking to build pressure from which Ashwin might profit. His penultimate delivery draws a throaty LBW shout against Marsh, but it was pitching a foot outside leg stump, even if it would have hit the stumps.
46th over: Australia 89-2 (Renshaw 41, Marsh 3)
We’re back after lunch with Ravi Ashwin twirling it down to Matt Renshaw, who is encircled with close-in fieldsmen but gets up and running again with a single. Not for the first time in the series, Shaun Marsh then become involved in a near run-out, though it wasn’t entirely clear whose fault it was. He gets through for the single in the end. To say he needs some runs here is something of an understatement. Usman Khawaja waits in the wings.
It’s Tests like these where I wish the old adage about your face staying fixed in a ridiculous position when the wind changes was true.
I need to frame Nathan Lyon's pitch map from yesterday. pic.twitter.com/1iL5ULJDYr
45th over: Australia 87-2 (Renshaw 40, Marsh 2)
And that is lunch on day two. Ishant gave Matt Renshaw six of his best, but the Queenslander was up to the task, and heads off for a breather with 40 runs to his name from 144 deliveries. His efforts typify the entire morning of cricket. It’s been tough, attritional cricket, and neither side has given an inch.
44th over: Australia 86-2 (Renshaw 39, Marsh 2)
Ashwin returns and has a go at Marsh now, but the only thing doing is an outside edge which flies well wide of silly point. We’ll have one more over before lunch, which looks like it’ll be bowled by Ishant Sharma. Maybe he’ll get a wicket to go with his manic gurning from earlier in the morning.
43rd over: Australia 83-2 (Renshaw 37, Marsh 1)
Somewhat surprisingly, the tiring Umesh Yadav is granted another over, though I guess Kohli will be hoping he can exploit the Australian No4’s penchant for fishing outside off stump to the quicks. Here Marsh is determined to leave, and only plays when they’re straight. It works a treat. If Umesh is done, he’s bowled a gem of a spell without taking a wicket.
42nd over: Australia 83-2 (Renshaw 37, Marsh 1)
Marsh gets off the mark with a single, which infuriates Ravi Shastri. So it’s not all bad for Australia. Super over from Jadeja. He’s done exactly what India needed before lunch.
Great bowling Jadeja. Huge wicket of the Aussie captain @stevesmith49
And there it is! Jadeja slides one in a bit quicker to Smith and when the inside edge balloons up from his front pad towards the vacant leg slip region, Saha sprints around and dives to snaffle the chance. The Aussie skipper doesn’t even wait for the verdict. He knows he’s cooked. Worse: he’s been dismissed 12 minutes before lunch, so Shaun Marsh will have to come out and face a brief spell of hostility, on a hiding to nothing.
41st over: Australia 81-1 (Renshaw 36, Smith 8)
An understatement: a late wicket before lunch will really throw the cat amongst the pigeons, and based on what we’ve seen so far in this series, it wouldn’t be an unlikely sight. Umesh continues, but I’d be tempted to bring back Ashwin if I was Kohli; he and Jadeja are a constant threat and really hurry through their overs.
40th over: Australia 80-1 (Renshaw 35, Smith 8)
We’ll have just under 20 minutes more cricket in what has been a truly magnificent morning of testing cricket for both sides, and Steve Smith continues to do very well at picking off singles. Jadeja has two LBW shouts against Renshaw when the tall lefty sweeps, but only the latter is entirely credible. Renshaw is doing that so that contact with pad or bat occurs outside the line of off stump. So far it’s working.
39th over: Australia 78-1 (Renshaw 34, Smith 7)
Yadav continues to the sounds of horns and hollering, but the ball is talking most in this over. Renshaw can only shake his head and shrug his shoulders after the paceman shapes two consecutive deliveries away from his outside edge. The first deviated off the surface, the second was reverse swing. A third merely straightens. Renshaw has a huge grin on his face, but only because he’s surviving a quite superb spell of pace bowling and one expertly tailored to the conditions.
Utterly compelling cricket - what a game these flanneled fools play @rustyjacko
38th over: Australia 78-1 (Renshaw 34, Smith 7)
Ravindra Jadeja appears now to relieve Ashwin, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, Australia have seen off a very threatening spell by India’s No1 bowler, on the other they have often collapsed when faced with the wares of his replacement. He’s coming over the wicket to Renshaw, with a short leg and a slip. Renshaw has a good look and finishes the over by sweeping a single. It wasn’t Haydenesque, but it did the job.
Very impressed with Matt Renshaw. Young man, playing at this level on alien pitches and with such composure.
37th over: Australia 76-1 (Renshaw 33, Smith 6)
Umesh has been trading in low bounce today, but out of nowhere he sends one whistling past the shoulder of Matt Renshaw’s bat when the ball takes a savage deviation out of a crack, and an edge follows a ball later. Should that have been caught? Oh dear. Perhaps Kohli could have caught it if he’d stayed low at first slip, but he rises to a standing position and the ball arrives on the half-volley before flying away for four. “That’s what we call the dentist catch”, says Brett Lee, throwing out a phrase I never once hear in my years playing cricket.
36th over: Australia 72-1 (Renshaw 29, Smith 6)
A five-man conference takes place before Ashwin takes his cap off to bowl this over, but the net result is nothing more exciting than a Matt Renshaw single and some stern defensive efforts by Smith. More importantly, the Ishant Sharma GIFs are now rolling in.
I can't stop watching Ishant Sharma #INDvAUSpic.twitter.com/cA8CO6I3mO
35th over: Australia 71-1 (Renshaw 28, Smith 6)
Smith continues to trust his eye here, and steps back and across in front of his stumps to defend Yadav’s low shooters. Were it any other batsman in Australia you’d argue it’s foolhardy, but you can hardly argue with the weight of numbers in the last few years. Yadav has his heart in his mouth every delivery of this maiden, but Smith sees it off.
34th over: Australia 71-1 (Renshaw 28, Smith 6)
To be fair to him, Renshaw is really rising to the Ashwin challenge now, and though he rarely looks like scoring, he’s forced the masterful spinner around the wicket for a new line of attack. That is a minor psychological victory in a fairly one-sided contest.
33rd over: Australia 70-1 (Renshaw 28, Smith 5)
Renshaw v Ashwin and Smith vs Yadav are the main contests right now, if you take Kohli out of the equation (he is fighting all of Australia). Smith mixes things up a bit by getting off strike, which Renshaw is probably glad for, and he gets a low edge through gully to pick up four. Yadav isn’t quite as threatening against the left-hander, though Renshaw gets even luckier with his second boundary of the over: a genuinely unintentional edge between first slip and third. It took Renshaw 70 minutes to make his first five runs today, and he’s just burgled eight more in a few minutes.
32nd over: Australia 61-1 (Renshaw 20, Smith 4)
Another tight over from Ashwin, who has Renshaw wrapped around his little finger, but can’t quite flick him off. Kohli is doing everything bar engage in a rap battle in his ongoing conversation with Steve Smith.
31st over: Australia 61-1 (Renshaw 20, Smith 4)
Yadav gets another go at Smith after the break and he’s causing a few problems when the ball keeps low and takes deviations out of the cracks. The big threat he poses is LBW, I think, especially with Smith shuffling across his stumps. Australia’s run rate has crawled to two per over, and this is some truly absorbing, series-shaping cricket under way on day two. I’ve no idea how, but Smith survives the over without being pinned in front. I think Umesh Yadav might get at least two or three more overs based on that one. Kohli and Smith are still going at it.
30th over: Australia 61-1 (Renshaw 20, Smith 4)
“Matthew Hayden has quite a large p....ool,” says Michael Clarke, though nobody was asking. Ashwin also had a big appeal for a close-in catch when Smith was on strike, but it was all pad according to Nigel Llong. Drinks are out on the ground now and they’ve certainly earned them so far.
That was as tense an hour of Test cricket as I've seen in a long time ... but brilliant viewing #IndvAus
Oof, that was very lucky for Smith as it was only shaving leg stump, so it goes back to the umpire’s call. Nigel Llong gave it not out, and that is how it stays.
The bowler is very keen on this. Nervous times for Smith, who was attempting to pull it away from his front knee roll and missed. Or did he get an underside edge? We shall soon see.
29th over: Australia 59-1 (Renshaw 19, Smith 4)
“It’s 27 degrees in Bangalore...hardly the cauldron everyone is making it out to be,” says reader Kabir Sethi. “Probably the tension of the game more than anything else.” Indeed. Just on that, Ishant did a superb job attacking and containing from his end, but his bolt is now shot so Umesh Yadav appears for a trundle. I reckon he’ll get a couple of overs, and if he doesn’t nip one of these two out, Kohli will turn to Jadeja. Ishant is staying involved by sledging the bejeezus out of Renshaw, which is nice. Yadav is keeping it worryingly low.
28th over: Australia 59-1 (Renshaw 19, Smith 4)
It’s not just Ishant getting stuck into Steve Smith, Virat Kohli is having a dip at it as well and really trying to get under the Australian captain’s skin. Lots of spice in this one, though Smith is laughing it off for now. Ashwin continues to probe away at Renshaw’s giant front pad, and the giant front pad continues to win. For now.
27th over: Australia 59-1 (Renshaw 19, Smith 4)
Matthew Hayden is talking about “the cauldron of Indian cricket” and “the furnace of the wicket”. Someone get him in front of an air conditioner, please. Anyway, that’s not his most disturbing image. He says this of Matthew Renshaw, who is currently doing well merely to survive: “He’s not only standing up, he’s dominating!” Calm down Haydos, he’s made four runs in the last 50 minutes.
26th over: Australia 58-1 (Renshaw 18, Smith 4)
Ooft. Renshaw is dicing with danger here, as Ashwin spins them across him from the rough. The Queenslander is taking the Warner route and leaving it with his stumps exposed, which as we know, didn’t exactly come up trumps. At least in this over he gets a couple of singles to leg. Using the bat is probably the way to go.
25th over: Australia 54-1 (Renshaw 16, Smith 2)
Tense times call for tough characters, and Steve Smith’s narrow-eyed focus is abundantly clear as he faces up to Ishant. The paceman is bowling with the spirit of the Demon Spofforth right now, but Smith eventually gets off strike with a single to point. Renshaw handles the rest, but he’s copping a real barrage.
24th over: Australia 53-1 (Renshaw 16, Smith 1)
Ashwin continues his cold war with Matt Renshaw, but I sense there could some weaponry unleashed soon enough. I’ve no idea how, but Renshaw pokes, prods and pads up, and negotiates his way through the onslaught. It’s not going to get any easier. Ashwin might bowl all innings the way he’s going now.
23rd over: Australia 53-1 (Renshaw 16, Smith 1)
Every delivery is subject to a raucous wall of sound from the locals right now, and a minor verbal skirmish followed that Renshaw-Ashwin stand-off late in the last over. On top of that, Ishant has worked his way into a very handy spell. This is why they call it Test cricket. Ignoring that, Brett Lee is spending the time between deliveries counting how many fidgets Steve Smith does. I, meanwhile, am spending the same time counting down the minutes until Brett Lee is gone from the commentary box.
22nd over: Australia 53-1 (Renshaw 16, Smith 1)
Steve Smith walks out to the middle now and gets off the mark with a single thanks to a minor imbroglio in which Renshaw won’t get out the way, so it trickles down to long leg, but India are all over the tourists here and the crowd is really getting involved too. Ashwin can scent blood in the water, and the Australians have a fierce battle on their hands.
Warner is removed by a gem! Holy smokes, that is an absolute peach from Ashwin, whose first ball of the over to Warner pitches outside leg, catches the Aussie opener in two minds and then fizzes across him to take the off stump. What was Warner doing? He shuffled across and exposed all three stumps. It turned a long, long way, and I’ve got to say, it was hardly surprising. The Aussie left-handers are in for a real battle today.
21st over: Australia 52-0 (Warner 33, Renshaw 16)
Ishant’s off-side protection against Warner has moved around to deep cover now, and the opener duly clubs one out there for a single. Reader Sankaran Krishna is enraged by all this, though that might be a little harsh on Ishant. He’s bowling with a decent head of steam so far. “Lyon gets 8-50 on the first day and Virat begins the second day with Ishant???” complains Sankaran. “This is beyond dumb. Starting with Ashwin and Jadeja would send a different message altogether.”
20th over: Australia 50-0 (Warner 32, Renshaw 16)
Renshaw is looking far less comfortable against Ashwin than Warner before, and he gets very lucky with an inside-edge into his pad, which balloons over the head of the man at short leg while not quite carrying to mid wicket. The rookie opener is putting his bat away so far, which doesn’t inspire much confidence. A maiden for Ashwin, and Renshaw has plenty to contemplate.
19th over: Australia 50-0 (Warner 32, Renshaw 16)
One thing I missed at the end of that Ashwin over prior: he finished it by hurling the ball back to the keeper’s end, narrowly missing Warner’s scone. Ishant isn’t quite so puffed up, or effective, and after a single to Renshaw, Warner clatters him through the cover region with an angled bat to pick up another boundary. Ishant responds with a bouncer, which rears up awkwardly and almost clips Warner’s bat as he flinches out the way. He’s coming to life now.
18th over: Australia 45-0 (Warner 28, Renshaw 15)
Unsurprisingly given the need for an early wicket, Ravichandran Ashwin will pair with Ishant in the early stages. He’s got a gully, a leg slip and short leg for Warner, and pursues a leg-side line in the hope the left-hander will do something rash. To start with Warner just pads up, but when Ashwin straightens just a fraction, a huge off-break goes fizzing past the outside edge of his forward defence. That was a jaffa. Matt Renshaw probably gulps at the other end. It’s a maiden, and a probing one.
17th over: Australia 45-0 (Warner 28, Renshaw 15)
Ishant Sharma starts us off on day two and arrives with an absolute shocker, which is angled well down leg and glanced for a gimme boundary by David Warner. “That’s an ominous beginning,” says Sunny Gavaskar, who cannot hide his displeasure. Warner is batting well out of his crease to start with, a good half-metre or so, and cracks a single out to the man at deep point. Renshaw calmly sees off the rest.
A bit on Australia’s preparation for this series: the Dubai training camp was more about getting the pace off the ball, and practicing on wickets with less bounce, than spin per se. That according to batting coach Graeme Hick, who is talking at the sidelines now. He says this will be an “exciting day” watching the likes of Steve Smith strut his stuff. If Australia win this series 4-0, and Tony Abbott makes a late charge at the coalition leadership, we really can’t rule out a knighthood for the once-maligned English batsman. Anyway, we’re a few minutes from play now. Let’s do this.
Good stuff from Michael Clarke, though somebody needs to have a word with him about shooting his videos in landscape mode.
Aussie boys getting ready for a big day pic.twitter.com/WZJnTwOPhM
Sunny Gavaskar is out in the middle now looking at the pitch, whose hexagonal cracks make it look like the wall tiles in a Moroccan hotel bathroom. It’s like a third-day WACA wicket, reckons Mark Waugh, who ponders whether it’s actually more a mental hurdle for batsmen than a technical one. Ryan Harris also reckons there is a bit too much emphasis on the surface. We’ll see. It was taking some sharp turn yesterday. I’ll say this: if this game lasts longer than the fourth morning I’ll be very surprised.
“This is a series defining day”, says Ravi Shastri at the sidelines just now, and with his wraparound shades – straight out of a Greg Chappell Cricket Centre catalogue from 1995 – he is surely correct. He wonders aloud whether the pressure is getting to India now, which is a pretty big call six days into a four-Test series.
Premable
Hello all and welcome back to another day in bizarro world, where a reality TV show host is the leader of the free world and Nathan Lyon is a record-shattering star of world cricket. Today I’ll be taking you through the second day of the Bangalore Test between India and Australia, which will only get stranger if Matthew Renshaw decides in the next ten minutes to retire from cricket and become a basket-weaver, and Harold Holt walks out to open the batting with David Warner.
Russell will be here shortly. In the meantime, catch up on day one’s drama, brought to you courtesy of Nathan Lyon:
Related: Nathan Lyon's record 8-50 decimates India on day one of Bangalore Test
Continue reading...